The effects of heavy-metal-containing sewage sludge on the soil microbial community were studied in two agricultural soils of different textures, which had been contaminated separately with three predominantly single metals (Cu, Zn, and Ni) at two different levels more than 20 years ago. We compared three community-based microbiological measurements, namely, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis

In recent years, the renewed presence of religion in the European societies has inspired a number of intellectuals on a popular as well as academic level to critically engage with religion. The aim of this article is to give a contribution to this debate. In contrast to the rather reductive and objectifying accounts of religion offered in much of the contemporary critique, I argue that a relevant

For a concrete beam resting on a bed of sand, an analytical solution technique is derived by which the mobility can be identified. To achieve realistic predictions, significant damping in the bed needs to be introduced. The modest damping of the concrete has little effect on the mobility for small frequencies whereas it has a significant effect for higher frequencies. An imperfection in the bed in

Background. Children born preterm (PT) have medical conditions and impairments that may affect their oral health. Hypothesis. Our hypothesis for the study was that PT children display more dental behaviour management problems (BMPs) and less favourable oral health behaviour than controls (C). Methods. Parents of 153 PT children and 153 C children were interviewed regarding the children's oral heal

Genomewide linkage analysis has been extremely successful at identification of the genetic variation underlying single-gene disorders. However, linkage analysis has been less successful for common human diseases and other complex traits in which multiple genetic and environmental factors interact to influence disease risk. We hypothesized that a highly heritable complex trait, in which the contrib

A large number of methods have been developed over the years to study protein-protein interactions. Many of these techniques are now available to the nonspecialist researcher thanks to new affordable instruments and/or resource centres. A typical protein-protein interaction study usually starts with an initial screen for novel binding partners. We start this review by describing three techniques t

Glypicans are cell-surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans that influence Wnt, hedgehog, decapentaplegic, and fibroblast growth factor activity via their heparan sulfate chains. However, recent studies have shown that glypican core proteins also have a role in growth factor signaling. Here, we expressed secreted recombinant human glypican-1 in eukaryotic cells. Recombinant glypican-1 was expressed a

The procoagulant function of activated factor V (FVa) is inhibited by activated protein C (APC) through proteolytic cleavages at Arg(306), Arg(506), and Arg(679). The effect of APC is potentiated by negatively charged phospholipid membranes and the APC cofactor protein S. Protein S has been reported to selectively stimulate cleavage at Arg(306), an effect hypothesized to be related to reorientatio

Birds on migration alternate between consuming fuel stores during flights and accumulating fuel stores during stopovers. The optimal timing and length of flights and stopovers for successful migration depend heavily on the extra metabolic power input (fuel use) required to carry the fuel stores during flight(1,2). The effect of large fuel loads on metabolic power input has never been empirically d

We simulate interactions between adsorbing and nonadsorbing surfaces immersed in solutions containing monodisperse semiflexible chains. Apart from the nature of the surfaces, we investigate responses to changes of the intrinsic chain stiffness, the degree of polymerization, and the bulk concentration. Our simulations display a sufficient accuracy and precision to reveal free-energy barriers that a

A novel human apolipoprotein [apolipoprotein M (apoM)l was recently described and demonstrated to be a lipocalin. We have now examined apoM in wild-type mice and mice with genetically altered lipoprotein metabolism. Liver and kidney showed high mRNA expression, whereas spleen, heart, brain, and testis demonstrated low expression. ApoM gene expression was initiated on embryonic day 10. Western blot

We are comparing spatially explicit processmodel based estimates of the terrestrial carbon balance and its components over Africa and confront them with remote sensing based proxies of vegetation productivity and atmospheric inversions of land-atmosphere net carbon exchange. Particular emphasis is on characterizing the patterns of interannual variability of carbon fluxes and analyzing the factors

The framework for an implicit implementation of the Bodner-Partom material model is presented. All equations needed for using a Newton-Raphson algorithm to solve the stress and hardening equations at the integration points are derived. In addition, the algorithmic tangential stiffness tensor, ensuring quadratic convergence in the global loop is presented.